Yami
Yami is the main antagonist of Ōkami, and considered Amaterasu's archenemy. He is granted that it lives up to that title, since Yami isn't exactly like previous bosses. Found on the Ark of Yamato, this is the last stand in the game, in an effort to save Nippon, and the Celestial Plain. Background It is only near the end that Amaterasu learns about Yami, and how it and an army of demons slaughtered many innocent Celestials on the Ark of Yamato. It is believed that from this Ark all evil beings come from, since it was the Ark in which evil beings came upon in the first place. It is said that there was only one Celestial who managed to escape the slaughter. Appearance Yami appears as a large mechanical sphere covered in arcane markings and cloaked in darkness, but is actually a small, fetal and primitive looking fish creature enclosed within, and operating the machine. The orb can morph into a variety of positions to attack. Involvement Yami is the final boss. Although it is never seen until it appears and is only spoken of as an extremely powerful demon, it is responsible for causing the events of the game and is the source of all the demons plaguing Nippon and Kamui. Strategy When you first confront Yami, there is a long scene, in which Yami will eventually take all of Amaterasu's powers away, or, to put it more simply, takes away all the Celestial Brush Techniques, ink and Divine Instruments away from her, leaving her helpless. Since you have no powers, your only option is to try and avoid Yami's attacks and keep hitting it. It will use open a hatch in its side and reveal a hammer which it can use to smash away bits of the floor. After you hit it enough it will be stunned an go grey like any other enemy. Keep hitting it and you will regain the Rejuvenation Brush Technique. This also gives you back your Divine Instruments and ink. Quickly use Rejuvenation to patch up the floor, or you could fall into the holes later in the battle. However, be careful, because Yami can easily just break it down again, so look out! Yami will also expose its core and will shot a laser which is very devastating. Now you have your Divine Instruments back, you can do more damge to the orb and defend yourself more easily, so keep at it until it releases the next Brush Technique. The next Celestial Brush Technique you gain back is Power Slash. After attack Yami for a number of times, it will be stunned again. This gives you a great opening to try out Power Slash on the weakened boss. Keep hitting the boss like before. Soon after that you are granted back yet another Celestial Power: Greensprout. This is when it gets easy, as Yami yet again is stunned again, but this time there is a prompt to Bloom it. This indicates to use your Greensprout on Yami. Do so to open up Yami and attack the ball inside the sphere, Yami's inner core. There is a creature inside the ball which is Yami;s true form. Keep on hitting it until Yami closes up again, as this will do more damage then normal. After this, Yami changes into his second form. Yami is now a green sphere. He no longer uses his previous attacks, but will instead split into multiple platforms. The core is on one platform, but there is also a burning platform which will try to attack you. Dodge it and jump up the platforms to the core toattack it. Yami will close up again, so jump down and repeat the process again when he splits up. Eventually, you get back the next Brush Technique, Cherry Bomb. Yami will again be stunned, and it is up to you to use Cherry Bomb on it to make it explode. When the bomb explodes, Yami will split up again. Jump up and attack the core again. After damaging him enough, you get back another Brush Technique: Watersprout. Like earlier, Yami will split up into several platforms, one of which is on fire. Extinguish the fire with Waterspout using one of the fountains scattered around the room or use Deluge (if you have acquired it) to extinguish it. Yami will be stunned by this, so attack it again. Repeat this until you damage it enough. After that, you will gain another Celestial Power: Crescent. Yami will turn grey again so use Crescent on one of the walls. This will summon an apparition of Nagi, who will cut Yami in half, exposing his core. Hit the core enough and Yami will move onto his next phase. Yami's third form is like a slot machine, and as it spins, slash it. What moves Yami uses against you depends on what the slots land on, it will send a ball of whatever it was towards you, for example, if it lands on a snow flake, it will send balls of ice towards you. A monster face will make it send out fruit projectiles like cursed trees or Bud Ogres and fire will make it spew fire. Use Power Slash on any of these to deflect them back to Yami, and damage it's health. If you manage to damage it enough, the slot machines all land on a light blue sphere (Yami's symbol, according to the artbook), and Yami will fall to the ground and you are granted one of your Brush Techniques back: Galestorm. Yami will then return to slot machine mode. Now it is possible to extinguish any fire that he throws at you (if you get that slot machine option), but it is simpler to just use Power Slash to reflect it back at him. Damage Yami enough again and its slot machine will land on all three light blue spheres, so it will give you back another Brush Technique, Inferno. You can now melt any ice thrown at you, but it is simpler again to just deflect it with Power Slash. If you damage Yami enough to get those three light blue spheres again on the slots, Yami will give you back another power, Veil of Mist. Use it to try and get what you want on the slot machines. When used, it will also summon an apparition of Queen Himiko who gives you Solar Orbs to restore your health, so you can also use it if you are low on health. Deflect attacks at Yami at will, or just get all three blue spheres again and the core will roll out as Yami drops to the ground. Attack the core to finish off Yami's third form, moving you onto his fourth. Yami's fourth form is quite hard, so try and dodge it's attacks, since it attacks quite quickly. It attacks with its bendy arms or by shooting missiles at you or some other very powerful techniques. The mssiles can be sent back at it, and at times it core will be open but will not fall out, so Power Slash it to damage it. You must be quick, as the panel covering the core can close even on the brush screen, so be quick! But, if you just keep on attacking it, it will give you back another power, Catwalk. You will see some cat statues along the battlefield. You can climb up and open the chest to find Exorcism slips and what-not. You don't have to, but if you needed some extra items, go for it, since if you don't feel like taking Yami straight on, it is easy to use Exorcism Slips. After hitting Yami (Try not to get squished) for a while, you will get Thunderstorm back. As Yami's hands turn into glaives, the same things as Ninetail's sword, direct thunder to them to electric shock Yami. The core will roll out, and then hit it. if you want to save more time, use Veil of Mist to slow it down. After that beating, you will most likely get Blizzard back. Around the battle field there will be lumps of ice. Direct these towards the core exposed on Yami's chest to get greater damage dealt. Using this technique will also briefly summon Oki, who can do serious damage to the core when it is exposed. Try and dodge Yami's attacks, and afterwards, Yami's arm will go up again like glaives. Direct thunder into them to electrocute Yami again, and the core will roll out. Attack the core until you are have defeated the fourth Yami form. Go all-out and use all your powers. Save time by using Veil of Mist. Blizzard can also be used as it will freeze the ball and make it too beig to fit back in Yami until the ice melts. The apparition of Oki will also, as said before, do very serious damage to the core. If you are not successful in defeating Yami that turn, try it again, and the second time you will probably defeat him. There will be a scene where Amaterasu imagines seeing Issun (who is actually an illusion, possibly created by Yami), and, distracted, she does not notice Yami creeping up behind her. Yet, it was too late, and Yami grabs her, and drains all the Celestial Powers out of her... again. This time he shatters all the Celestial Brish Gods' constellations, preventing her from regaining the techniques. This is where Yami's fifth and final form appears, the last stand to save Nippon. However, being weak, there is no way you can fight this Yami. This is where the Issun and the people of the mortal plain help, with everyone you met in the game talking, offering you help and praying for you, thanks to Issun convincing them and restoring Nippon's faith in the gods. With the belief of Nippon by your side, you gain all your powers again, and you realize not only Yami has cool forms. As you are cloaked in light, Amaterasu true form appears, the one that you have seen Shiranui in earlier in the game, near the bosses Lechku and Nechku. You then gain back your Sunrise power and you are restored to he very peak of your strength by everyone's prayers. Use this power to dispel Yami's darkness from the battle field, then you are able to attack Yami. Yami will create barrages of rockets like before (which can be reflected back at him with Power Slash), can attack with his hand, and other devastating powers. His core is also on the hand and can attack with the laser beam from his first form. Use all of your techniques, using a sutiable one whenever you see the opportunity. Occasionally Yami will try and bring down darkness again and drain your ink. Use Sunrise before your ink runs out or when it recharges to stun Yami. His core will then fall out of his hand and must be attacked with all your strength. Yet again, you must go all-out and batter the core until you win. Large Excorsism Slips are also useful. Keep on doing this until Yami is defeated, and then the end will come of the game will a long ending scene, credits and song. Trivia *Like Ammy represents the sun, light and life, Yami appears to represent the moon or possibly darkness, death and evil. Yami's spherical shape is similar to the moon and it seems to have links to the Moon Tribe, but it also seems to represent darkness itself, especially in its last form. **Additionally, when Yami enters its last form, the solar eclipse on the Day of Darkness completes itself and the sun is covered by the moon. This may symbolise Yami (the Moon) defeating Amaterasu (the Sun) additionally, Amaterasu seems weakest at this time, whereas Yami is strongest. **"Yami" literally means "darkness" in Japanese. **Depsite Yami's links to the Moon, Crescent is very effective against it because it summons Susano (possibly because it gives moonlight, rather than block the sun as an eclipse does). *Like Ammy, Yami is not able to speak. However, it appears to be capable of expressing rage. *Despite the queen Yami from reality, this Yami is male. *Yami appears as the primary antagonist in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, as the one responsable to merge the universes of Capcom and Tatsunoko, with the real world. *On the teleportation zone in the Ark of Yamato there are markings of Yami's final form. Also, in the concept art for the Ark, more of these markings are present. See Also *Lechku & Nechku *Orochi Category:Bosses